The place of cultural tourism for Cluj-Napoca, Romania as a tourist destination

Abstract

Tourism industry represents the sector with the highest development at global level. Cultural tourism became an important trend at international level; 60% of the European tourists are interested in cultural discovery. Romania's tourism potential remained largerly unexplored during the last 17 years due to the attention given to traditional tourism products: sun tourism at Black Sea and ski tourism during the winter. In 2006, WTTC recommended cultural and heritage tourism to become an important tourism product for Romania. The attraction points are numerous, various and interesting. Tourism stakeholders can create independent and complex products in order to promote Romania as a cultural tourist destination. The concentration of around 47% of total tourist arrivals in the main 40 Romanian cities, where the most important cultural attractions and events are concentrated, indicates that cultural tourism can be either a distinct product, or can complete other forms of urban tourism. Cluj-Napoca is one of Romania's most important cities from the number of citizens' point of view, also due to its business environment and cultural attractiveness. Cluj county stands on the sixth place in Romanian destinations classification, taking into account the number of lodging capacities, but Cluj-Napoca - the municipality of the county - is situated on the third place after Bucharest and Timisoara using the same criteria. The paper identifies the main tourist segment on the market and analyses the perception of tourists regarding Cluj-Napoca as a tourist destination. We used for our study personal interviews based on a questioner applied to a representative sample and empirical research analysing statistical data and other available information about the destination. We compared the tourist resources of Cluj-Napoca with the target profile and we analysed the place of cultural tourism for the destination.

Full text

The place of cultural tourism for Cluj-Napoca, Romania as a
tourist destination
SMARANDA COSMA, ADINA NEGRUSA
Business Department, Faculty of Business
Babes-Bolyai University
7 Horea str., 400174 Cluj-Napoca
ROMANIA
{smaranda, anegrusa}@tbs.ubbcluj.ro, http://www.tbs.ubbcluj.ro
Abstract: - Tourism industry represents the sector with the highest development at global level. Cultural
tourism became an important trend at international level; 60% of the European tourists are interested in
cultural discovery. Romania’s tourism potential remained largerly unexplored during the last 17 years due to
the attention given to traditional tourism products: sun tourism at Black Sea and ski tourism during the winter.
In 2006, WTTC recommended cultural and heritage tourism to become an important tourism product for
Romania. The attraction points are numerous, various and interesting. Tourism stakeholders can create
independent and complex products in order to promote Romania as a cultural tourist destination. The
concentration of around 47% of total tourist arrivals in the main 40 Romanian cities, where the most important
cultural attractions and events are concentrated, indicates that cultural tourism can be either a distinct product,
or can complete other forms of urban tourism. Cluj-Napoca is one of Romania’s most important cities from
the number of citizens’ point of view, also due to its business environment and cultural attractiveness. Cluj
county stands on the sixth place in Romanian destinations classification, taking into account the number of
lodging capacities, but Cluj-Napoca - the municipality of the county - is situated on the third place after
Bucharest and Timisoara using the same criteria. The paper identifies the main tourist segment on the market
and analyses the perception of tourists regarding Cluj-Napoca as a tourist destination. We used for our study
personal interviews based on a questioner applied to a representative sample and empirical research analysing
statistical data and other available information about the destination. We compared the tourist resources of
Cluj-Napoca with the target profile and we analysed the place of cultural tourism for the destination.
Key-Words: - tourism, tourist marketing destination, cultural tourism, regional development, tourist potential
1 Introduction
In the last 50 years tourism had an average annual
growth rate of 7% (UNWTO, 2003). For the future,
the predictions are also favourable (Table no. 1):
Table no. 1: Tourist arrivals (in millions)
Average annual growth rate
(%)
Region Base
year
2005 1995-
2000
2000-
2010
2010-
2020
Europe 334 3.0 3.2 3.1
World 563 3.6 4.5 4.4
Source: UNWTO, 1997
The importance of tourism sector for the present
century at the world level and also for Europe was
highlighted numerous times. In 2007, UNWTO
predictions indicate an average annual growth rate
of 4.1% [1].
These figures reflect the tourism sector in general;
heritage tourism is expected to increase with a
higher rate. The growth of cultural tourism can be
better explained in the context of the wider social
and economic trend which marks post-modernity
[12]. According to a European Commission study,
60% of the European tourists are interested in
cultural discovery [16]. The same source revealed
that around 30% of tourist destinations are chosen
based on the presence of heritage sites which can be
visited. Klein (2001) showed that this number
increases up to 45-50% if the attendance at festivals
or other important cultural events is included [8].
Cultural tourism is expected to represent from 8 to
20% of the shares of the tourists market (UNWTO,
2003). Also Tudini (2006) consider that the growth
expectations for cultural tourism are assessed at 15%
per year [15].
UNWTO argued that this positive trend for cultural
tourism is a consequence of a continuous growth in
global tourism demand as a result of:
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
403
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

 a more sophisticated tourist, looking for
new experiences, with a shorter stay, focused
mainly on urban and cultural tourism;
 more local authorities seeing in tourism a
source of income and employment opportunities;
 more awareness focused on conservation,
cultural and natural heritage.
What is the relationship between tourism and
culture? Culture and tourism could be considered
inseparable and interdependent. The cultural wealth
of a site not only attracts tourists but also “domestic
and international tourism continues to be among the
foremost vehicles for cultural exchanges” [17].
Cultural tourism can be defined in various ways.
Nevertheless, an important problem in defining
cultural tourism is generated by the correct
identification of the cultural tourist. Distinction
should be made between those people visiting a
destination specifically for culture and those who
incidentally include culture as an alternative to
spending their time. Culture is often a secondary
motivation for tourism [12]. This is the main reason
which does not allow, in practice, a proper counting
of cultural tourists for a country or a destination.
Cultural tourism is a general term referring to leisure
travel motivated by one or more aspects of the
culture of a particular area (Dictionary of Travel,
Tourism and Hospitality Terms, 1996). UNWTO
defines cultural tourism as the movement of persons
for essentially cultural motivations, including study
tours, performing arts, cultural tours, travel to
festivals, visit to historic sites and monuments,
folklore [12]. ICOMOS - International Council for
Monuments and Sites (2002) consider the cultural
tourism essentially the form of tourism that focuses
on the culture, on the cultural environments
including landscapes of the destination, the values
and lifestyles, heritage, visual and performing arts,
industries, traditions, and leisure pursuit of the local
destination or host community; it can include
attendance at cultural events, visits to museums and
heritage places and mixing with local peoples.
Stebbins (1996) defined cultural tourism as a style
of special interest tourism based on the search for
the participation in new and deep cultural
experiences, whether aesthetic, intellectual,
emotional or psychological [14]. Richards (1996)
consider cultural tourism to be all movements of
persons to specific cultural attractions such as
heritage sites, artistically and cultural
manifestations, arts and drama outside their normal
place of residence. Lord (1999) defined cultural
tourism as a form of tourism motivated by interest in
historical, artistic, scientific, heritage offering of a
community, region, group or institution [10].
All the definitions presented above highlights
different features of the same complex concept and
various points of view regarding cultural tourism. It
can be argued (European Institute of Cultural
Routes, 2004) that all tourism is cultural [16];
people consistently travel to locations that are unlike
their own. In the past decade, the tourism industry
has created a distinctive travel product.
All over the world, local communities and national
organizations have developed particular cultural and
heritage tourism products that attract increasing
tourists’ visitation each year. As a consequence,
during the past 10 years, cultural tourism has
registered a growing economic impact [6].
It is difficult to have accurate statistic data regarding
cultural tourists since culture is often a secondary
motivation for tourism [13].
2 Romania as a tourist destination
Romania has a harmonious, diverse landscape, as
well as rich tradition and culture. The country could
be considered as one of the most beautiful and
resourceful places in Europe [3]. Despite this,
Romania’s tourism potential is largely unexplored as
WTTC (2006) highlighted in its report [20]. The
evolution of tourist arrivals confirms this statement
(Figure no. 1).
1432
1294
1185
848
856
766
762
833
810
795
867
915
999
1105
1359
1430 5805
5639
5057
4847
4875
4920
5109
5552
5727
6595
7070
7005
7566
8015
9603
12297
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
(
thousans
)
total
foreign t ourists
Figure no. 1: Evolution of tourist arrivals in
Romanian accommodation establishments
Source: National Institute of Statistics, Annual
Statistic Yearbook 2006
During the 1970s Romania was a popular tourist
destination for sun and beach tourism at the Black
Sea side. The economic crisis Romania was
confronted with during the 1980s reduced
considerably the foreign tourist flow and the
international visibility of Romania as a desirable
destination. After the communist regime fall in 1989
no important steps were made to define and
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
404
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

differentiate Romania as an attractive tourist
destination; one reason was that the Romanian
authorities at all level expected that tourists who
visited Romania during the 1970s will come back. It
was not taken into consideration the diversified
portfolio of new destinations which was formed and
became available for tourists during the years of
Romania’s low visibility on tourism market [5].
The absence of a coherent strategy for tourism
development, which also was a principal factor in
the absence of a brand for Romania as a tourist
destination, combined with problems related with
communication infrastructure and an relatively
obsolete and out of fashion lodging capacities
(mainly until 2001-2002), kept Romania out of the
foreign tourists attention and contribute to the
decrease of domestic tourism also [9].
The results of the lack of important and visible
developments were revealed by the World
Economic Forum Competitiveness Report on Travel
and Tourism 2007 where Romania was ranked 76th
out of 124 countries. When the country’s rank is
compared to its main competitors, Romania has the
lowest position, as reflected in Table no. 2 [19].
Table no. 2: Comparative ranking generated by
competitiveness index
Source: Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report
2007, pg.10-11
Note: The ranking includes 124 countries
Confronted with the absence of a brand as a tourist
destination and not helped by a controversial strap
line: “Romania simply surprising”, our country can
however overpass this situation using its cultural
potential for developing a strong product for cultural
tourism [6]. The culture and heritage was little put to
work in the last decade in Romania, while this
product became a trendy one at international level.
As WTTC (2006) recommended in their report on
the country, cultural and heritage tourism can
become an important tourist product for Romanian
tourism [6].
Hugues & Allen (2005) showed that Bulgaria,
Croatia, Poland and Hungary targeted cultural
tourism. These countries are Romania’s direct
competitors in the tourism market. However,
Romania can follow the same path due to the fact
that cultural tourism allows every country to reveal
its unique features as a tourist destination. Cultural
features also can create the much needed
differentiation, along with being a vehicle which can
produce and promote a favourable image for a
country [7].
Romanian tourism has been traditionally centred on
the resorts of the Black Sea coast [20], where the
concentration of bed places represents 41,69% of the
total bed places at the country level (NIS, average
figure 1993-2005). Due to seasonality, the Black Sea
coast attracts only 13.18% of total tourist arrivals
(NIS, average figure 1993-2005) [21].
Other popular destinations, mainly among domestic
tourists, are mountain ski resorts and spa resorts. All
these resorts combine 28.10% of country total bed
places with 26.22% of total tourist arrivals (NIS,
average figures 1993-2005). Important investments
are needed to increase the attractiveness of mountain
and spa resorts through modern and various leisure
facilities, and new tourist products centred on
nature-based tourism and the new trend of wellness
lifestyle.
During the same period, 1993-2005, urban tourism
became an important part of Romanian travel &
tourism sector due to the growing trend in business
tourism. The main 40 cities of Romania (county
residences) attracted 46.57% of total tourist arrivals
(NIS, average figure 1993-2005).
The culture and heritage was little put to work in the
last decade in Romania, while this product became a
trendy one at international level.
In order to evaluate this heritage patrimony we made
an analysis on the historical monuments spread on
region bases. We took into account the 8
development regions, created by the National
Agency for Regional Development in order to
promote an improved and balanced development of
each part of the country.
A report conducted by the Centre for Cultural Study
and Research, under The Ministry of Culture and
Religious Affairs patronage shows that the highest
institution capacity index and cultural operators are
in Transylvania. This index measures the
development of cultural production and cultural
goods distribution infrastructure. The index is
Country Subindex
Overall index
Business
environment
Human,
cultural, and
natural
resources
Rank Score Rank Score Rank Score
Czech
Republic
35 4.75 37 4.13 22 5.32
Slovakia 37 4.68 45 3.81 18 5.37
Croatia 38 4.66 40 4.06 11 5.55
Hungary 40 4.61 51 3.71 51 4.98
Slovenia 44 4.58 38 4.11 53 4.88
Bulgaria 54 4.31 56 3.64 41 5.11
Poland 63 4.18 62 3.50 60 4.81
Romania 76 3.91 74 3.20 71 4.68
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
405
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

calculated from the number of cultural institution in
a region divided to 1000 citizens (Figure no. 2).
1.48
1.72
1.84
1.57
0.77
0.59
1.22
1.52
0.00 0.20 0.40 0.60 0.80 1.00 1.20 1.40 1.60 1.80 2.00
Bucharest - Ilfov
Center
North-West
West
South-West Oltenia
South-Muntenia
South-East
North-East
Figure no. 2: Institution capacity index and cultural
operators (including UNESCO heritage)
The figure above shows that the North-West and
Centre Region representing Transylvania have the
richest cultural and heritage potential of Romania.
During the last years the number of tourists visiting
Romanian museums has declined, while the number
of museums increased (Table no. 3).
Table no. 3: The evolution of museums in Romania
and the numbers of visitors
Source: National Institute of Statistics, Annual
Statistic Yearbook 2005
From this analysis, it results that the Romanian offer
to tourists interested in museums heritage, is more
concentrated on arts and culture. The diversity of art
styles and artefacts preserved in historical sites
implies the necessity to develop a national strategy
for the national cultural promotion.
The problem lies in creating a whole tourist product
backed by hospitality infrastructure and other
possibilities for leisure activities. Based on the
information available in other similar studies (as no
differentiated figures for the domestic or foreign
travellers are given), one can assume that over 60%
of the museums visitors are travellers from other
countries. Their decreasing trend gives the idea of an
inappropriate promotion campaign.
A study of Romanian National Institute for Research
and Development in Tourism (INCDT) reveals that
the preferred form of tourism in Romania is urban
tourism, followed by mountain tourism and seaside
[18].
In the period 2005-2008, the Ministry of Culture
together with National Authority for Tourism started
different program for cultural tourism development.
A first step in the right direction was made when the
city of Sibiu candidature to become Cultural Capital
of Europe was accepted in 2004. As a result, during
2007, along with Luxembourg, Sibiu was the
European Capital of Europe promoting also
Romania as a hole on the tourist market [6].
3. The place of cultural tourism for
Cluj-Napoca
The cultural heritage of Europe is one of the oldest
and most important generators of tourism. It retains
its central role in European tourism industry to this
day [12]. Many of the countries of Central and
Eastern Europe may be conceptualised as ideal
cultural tourism products. These countries have the
resources to capitalise on the demand for urban and
cultural tourism in particular [7]. The opening up of
new tourism destinations in this region of Europe
offer opportunity for some countries to differentiate
it and find target niche markets such as: city and
rural tourism, activity tourism, health/ spa tourism
and cultural tourism.
As we mentioned above, cultural tourism with their
different special forms is a tourist product fated for
exports. In the last few years, for countries like
Czech Republic and Hungary, cultural tourism has
became an important source of tourism revenues. In
Romania the cultural tourism remains in infancy due
to the incapacity to construct an infrastructure for
developing strong heritage tourism [2].
In general, the cultural tourism in Romania is
centred on four locations (Figure no. 3): the painted
monasteries of the Bucovina region; the castles in
Transylvania and the art galleries; the wooden
churches and houses in the Maramures region;
museums and historical and contemporary sites in
1999 2001 2003 2005
Number of
museums
515 524 551 667
Number of
tourists in
museums (000)
8818 10550 10108 10488
The museums structure by type (%)
Natural sciences 6.9 7.1 6.5 6.6
Sciences history 2.1 2.8 2.9 3.1
History 17.8 17.7 17.9 16.8
Ethnography 11.26 11.6 13 17.24
Culture history 20.9 21.6 23.7 22.60
Art 23.1 22.5 22.8 22.2
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
406
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

cities such as Bucharest, Sibiu, Cluj-Napoca and
Sighisoara. The main cultural points of interest in
Romania are represented by monasteries and
churches, which attract most of the foreign tourists
who want to learn some of the traditions and history.
Bucharest -
Ilfov
12%
Center
17%
North-West
14%
West
7% South-West
Oltenia
12%
South-
Muntenia
14%
South-East
10%
North-East
14%
Figure no. 3: The spread of historical monuments on
the national areas of development.
Source: Romanian Ministry of Culture and Religious
Affairs
The reason why Transylvania is one of the
Romanian preferred cultural region by foreign
tourists is very simple: it is famous for its rich
multiethnic heritage as a mix of Germans,
Hungarians and Romanians. Numerous ancient sites
with medieval fortresses and castles are spread all
over Transylvania. Some of the attractive sites are
the Bran Castle (known as Dracula Castle), the
citadel of Sighisoara or the medieval towns as Sibiu,
Brasov and Cluj. The foreign tourists, especially
European ones, prefer Transylvanian cultural
product because it is easier to perceive and
understand. They can recover their historic and
cultural heritage. From this point of view,
Transylvania is a sample of European cultural
heritage.
Looking briefly at the cultural tourism potential,
Romania has over 27 000 locations grouped under
different categories, and 151 monuments and
archaeological sites of special value
(www.mturism.ro). Besides Romanic, Gothic,
Renaissance, Baroque, Rococo and Art Nouveau,
Romania owns its specific architecture, the
Brancovenesc style found mainly in Wallachian
castles, palaces and houses. Moldova also has
specific architectural traits. Romania can offer a
great insight into Europe’s past and present, through
the many castles, palaces and houses of which some
are as old as the 12th century, through the varied old
Orthodox churches, monasteries and cathedrals that
provide glimpses of ages of belief, and through the
Catholic, Calvinist, and Lutheran churches and
cathedrals mainly placed in Transylvania. All of
these contribute to the area’s great potential for
religious tourism. Romania is also home to 7 World
Heritage Sites; six of them are buildings or building
complexes which can be offered as individual or
complex cultural products. To all these can be added
a number of 6600 monuments of national
importance and 670 museums; also 146 locations
offer over 17000 various performances per year
(UNWTO 2007, Master plan for Romanian tourism
development).
Romania is divided in 8 Regional Development
Agencies as follows: North-East, South-East, South-
Muntenia, South-West Oltenia, West, North-West,
Centre, Bucharest-Ilfov. The North-West Region
includes 6 counties (Cluj, Bihor, Maramureş,
Bistriţa-Năsăud, Satu-Mare, Sălaj), representing
around 15 percent from the total Romania’s territory
and is situated on the fourth place taking into
account the population and the area. Cluj county is
one of the most important communication point
(roads, railways, airway) in the country. It represents
2,8 per cent of the Romanian territory, with a more
frequent urban population (67,2%), out of which
more than half works in services and trade. The main
foreign investors in Cluj county are Hungarians.
From the lodging capacities point of view, Cluj
county is situated on the 6th place out of 41,
representing around 4,35 per cent of the total
Romanian number of lodgings (Table no. 4, NIS,
2006).
Table no. 4
The present paper focuses on the city of Cluj-
Napoca and the place of cultural tourism in this
destination. The interest for this topic was triggered
by fact that Cluj-Napoca was perceived – by the
local hoteliers – mainly as a city of transit (until
around the year 2000) and than almost exclusively
as a business destination.
Cluj-Napoca, the municipality of the Cluj county, is
considered to be the capital of Transylvania due to
the fact that it is one of the biggest cities in Romania
No. County Number of
lodgings Number of
lodgings (%)
1
Constanţa 988 20.98
2 Braşov 489 10.38
3 Harghita 402 8.54
4 Prahova 222 4.71
5 Suceava 220 4.67
6 Cluj 205 4.35
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
407
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

– the second after the capital from the number of
citizens point of view –, an important academic,
cultural and business centre. These are the reasons
which make Cluj-Napoca an interesting destination
for different types of tourists. Compared with the
county rank, Cluj-Napoca stands on the third place
after the capital Bucharest and Timisoara.
The occupancy rate decreased in the first nine
months of 2005 at 37,89% from 44,4% in the same
period of 2004. On the other hand, the average
turnover increased with 4,67% in 2005 compared to
2004, at 81,42 RON.
The tourist offer for Cluj-Napoca has a great variety:
9 cultural and historical monuments (medieval
and modern monuments, churches, museums,
festivals, exhibitions);
9 a diversified portfolio of accommodation
establishments, restaurants, clubs, tourist
agencies;
9 an attractive natural-geographic space.
Despite this, for now, Cluj-Napoca can not compete
with Bucharest – the capital and with other
municipalities, especially with Timisoara, from the
foreign investments and the business opportunities
point of view.
The number of tourists in Cluj-Napoca increased
constantly in the last few years
(http://www.primariaclujnapoca.ro/proiect_planifica
re.aspx) [22].
For our investigations we used exploratory,
descriptive and causal research. We obtain primary
and secondary data through:
o two personal (face to face)
interviews based on short questionnaires – one for
the demand and the other for the supply; the
information we got was neither sensitive, nor
threatening; we used clear, unambiguous, structured
and unstructured questions; for the tourist supply we
got responses from a representative group of 34
accommodation establishments out of 45 (75.55%);
for the tourist demand we used for identifying the
representative sample STATGRAPHICS soft; for a
standard error of ±0,03 the sample was 1068 tourists;
o SWOT analysis for the tourist
destination;
o visits and accommodation
establishments web-sites analysis;
o statistical data and published
studies.
Cluj-Napoca’s accommodation establishments
represent around 56% of the Cluj county [13]. The
starting point in our investigation was the explosion
in the number of the accommodation establishments
in the last few years. In 1990 the number of hotels in
Cluj-Napoca was 10. The registered number of
hotels in Cluj county was 47 for 2006. In Cluj-
Napoca, the municipality of Cluj county, were
identified 40 hotels, representing 85.10% from the
county total. Before 1989 the number of hotels in
Cluj-Napoca was 7.
By the end of 2007 on the Cluj-Napoca hotels’
market we were able to identify 40 hotels which had
the up-dated authorisation. From 40 of the hotels, 26
of them were open between 2000 and 2005. The
development of Cluj-Napoca accommodation
establishments was triggered by the need for various
types of accommodation services and by an easier
access to financial resources (bank loans mostly)
between 2000 and 2007 [11]. Figure no. 4 presents
Cluj lodging capacities’ structure using the year of
construction.
1990-
1995
13%
before
1989
23%
after 2000
53% 1996-
2000
5%
Figure no. 4: The year of construction
Our study revealed that 85% of the operational
lodging capacities are small, offering under 50
rooms, as the Figure no. 5 shows.
79%
8%
8% 5%
<50
50-99
100-150
>150
Figure no. 5: Number of rooms
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
408
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

More than a half of these lodging capacities are
included in 3 stars category – using the National
Stars’ Classification System and the second place is
taken by 4 stars hotels. Figure no. 6 presents these
situations.
1*
5% 2*
18%
3*
52%
4*
22%
5*
3%
Figure no. 6: National stars' classification system
From tourist point of view, Cluj county can be
considered an access gate to the Western
Carpathians, an area with a great tourist potential
due to the beautiful landscapes, the picturesque
villages, the geological phenomena and precious
flora. But the city offer also important cultural
elements which define the historical evolution of life
in Transylvania.
Regarding the cultural potential given by events,
Cluj-Napoca has a stable calendar of festivals and
other socio-cultural events of local interest and some
of them gain an national and international attraction.
Occasionally Cluj hosts festivals or cultural events,
like this year The MTV Music Awards Romania, the
first edition organized outside Bucharest, which
could develop a flux of tourists.
Based on these we can say that Cluj-Napoca is an
important cultural city, which offer a wide range of
cultural values for interested tourists. The main
problem remains the promotion of cultural image
and the interest of companies from tourism
infrastructure to develop that kind of activities and
services.
The basic assumptions that we tried to verify in the
study were [4]:
1. The hotels are aware of playing a role of cultural
messengers on the tourism market.
2. The hotels want to be involved in cultural
activities only when those activities are related
to the hotels’ image in the market or when their
products are involved.
3. The hotels are so oriented toward the business
segment of clients that they ignore the potential
of cultural tourism, due to their impossibility to
forecast the benefits which can result from it.
First of all, our intention was to identify if Cluj-
Napoca’s hotels have any perception of the
possibility to play a cultural role in the market.
Using a Likert scale for measuring their responds, 1-
strongly agree, 5 – totally disagree, results an
average of 2.16. We interpret this result as an
important interest of hotels for developing cultural
tourism and for attracting this type of clients. 70%
from the managers inquired about this matter,
believed that the hotel can play the cultural
messenger role. The question address to them was in
general, so the results do not refer to the effective
implications of hotels in this direction. But it is a
positive sign the fact that the Cluj-Napoca’s hotel
managers are aware of this potential. Further
more, we were interested to identify which are the
most specific elements – considered important - that
hotels have, upholding the cultural activities offer by
hotels. It had result a quite balanced spread among
architecture, interior design and cultural events.
Nevertheless, cultural events were indicated in a
higher proportion because they are the most
dynamic elements which assure the growing flow of
tourists. Even if the cultural events that a hotel can
organize are at of small dimensions, like exhibitions
or local meetings, the managers know and
understand the potential for their hotels by
participating as supporters for unroll some events at
a higher scale in the local community (Figure no. 7).
interior
design -
23,8
architecture -
28,6
cultural
events -
47,6
Figure no. 7: Holding element for playing the role of
cultural messenger
We correlate these results with other specific
information about the distinctive elements of the
hotels; in the first position was indicated logo,
symbol. In the last position were indicated elements
of interior design and architecture. We concluded
from this that hotels are not interested in creating a
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
409
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

unique image for themselves, based on cultural
values or assets. Spite of this, our study reveals that
almost 11% from the hotels indicated that have
tourists with cultural purpose for visiting the city.
This figure is not much, compared with the business
segment, 46.4%, but represents a stable and
promising share of client market.
The benefits of the cultural tourism are first of all
for the local community, because all people involve
in creating the tourism package of services will gain
the opportunity to develop their business and in the
second level the tour operators and hotels because
they can create a special package of services
addressed for this types of clients. Knowing that the
most important segments of cultural tourism it is
represented by foreign clients, the economic
development at individual level and as a whole it is
obvious. The hotels inquired seem do not see the
direct positive impact on tourists flow (Figure no.
8).
21
47,4
15,8 15,8
0
10
20
30
40
50
abcd
Figure no. 8: The results assuming by hotels from
promoting cultural activities
(a – attract foreign tourists, b – attract more tourists,
c – creating an identity in the market, d – no changes
in tourists flux)
The cultural activities chosen to be promoted by the
hotels were in the first place, representing 35%, and
consisting in presentations inside the hotels of some
actions with cultural specific like wine tasting or
specific food preparations. In the second position,
with 26%, were indicated the initiation and
organization of some cultural events of small scale,
but important on local area. On third place, was put
the use of the hotel’s interiors as a space for various
exhibitions. The results highlight the hotels’ interest
for those actions which can be managed by
themselves and promote the hotel on the market.
Spite of this results, until now, there were few
initiates in organizing such cultural activities by the
Cluj-Napoca’s hotels, the most common being the
hosting of exhibitions in the lobby. The study
reveals that the hotel managers are aware of how the
cultural tourism could be put to work for their
economic benefits, but are not interested to do more.
In general, the hotels from Cluj-Napoca are
concentrated on the business clients and gradually
become aware of their role as cultural messengers.
They do not think at the competitive advantage the
unique features can offer and to become a tourist
destination by promoting and organizing cultural
events in correlation with the business tourism is a
strange idea.
The second part of our research analyses the demand
for Cluj-Napoca tourist market. Our research reveals
that the main purpose of visiting Cluj-Napoca is
personal interest, followed by professional training,
business and cultural motivation (Figure no. 9).
other
5%
transit
7%
personal
interes
24%
cultural
13%
profesional
training
21%
business
18%
leisure
12%
Figure no. 9: The purpose of the visit
In “personal interest” category are included the
relatives and friends of the students and of the
residents who, most of them, do not use the lodging
capacities and also persons how come for medical
services.
The tourist choice regarding lodging capacities
come to support the information obtained from the
visit purpose in Cluj-Napoca. The preferred lodging
type is offered by relatives and friend and on the
second place are hotels (Figure no. 10).
hotel
27%
pension
14%
vila
7%
friends/
relatives
38%
other
14%
Figure no. 10: Preferred lodging capacities
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
410
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

The high percentage of personal interest visits is in
correct correlation with the accommodation at
relatives and friends (figure no. 10).
Almost half of the tourists prefer to stay in Cluj-
Napoca 2-3 days. The average period is higher
compared with the average length of stay in
Romania which is 1,8 days. This means that tourists
come especially for weekend to visit their relatives
and friends. Regarding the allocated amount of
money, the tourists do not spend very much. The
majority spends between 100 and 500 RON, which
represents a low amount compared with 1440 RON
– the average at the country level. This big
difference can be explained by the purpose of the
visit: our study reveals that the main purpose of the
Cluj-Napoca’s visit is personal interest, followed by
professional training. Also, the result can be
explained by the fact that the tourists stay especially
at relatives and friends and they don’t spend money
for accommodation. We obtain for the perception of
the tourists regarding Cluj-Napoca cleanliness 3,7
points out of 5, which is a medium result (1 – dirty,
5 – clean). For tourist services offered by Cluj-
Napoca, the subjects ranked the city very well: 1,9
points, where 1 represent very good and 4 very bad.
The best evaluation was obtained for food and
beverage services, followed by accommodation
services and business environment (Table no. 5).
Table no. 5
Tourist services Points (1 – very good,
4 – very bad)
Accommodation 1,78
Food and beverage 1,77
Tourist attraction 1,92
Commercial attraction 1,85
Business environment 1,79
Residents attitude 1,96
Transport infrastructure 2,28
The tourists agreed that Cluj-Napoca is one of their
preferred Romanian destination (2,33 points, where
1 – total agree and 5 – total disagree).
Most of the subjects perceive Cluj-Napoca as being
an academic centre and only at a big distance a
business and cultural centre (Figure no. 11).
The most needed information for tourist guide are:
city map, tourist attraction, public transportation,
cultural objectives and bar and clubs list. The Cluj-
Napoca’s tourists are young, 41% between 20-30
years and 27% between 30 and 40 years. Most of the
subjects were males, but the percentages are nearly,
with higher education (46% undergraduates and 27%
with high school, where are included the students).
tourist
9%
commercia
l
6%
business
15%
academic
58%
cultural
12%
Figure no. 11: Main characteristic of Cluj-Napoca
The revenue of the tourists is under the Romanian
average wage. These results come to support the
main purpose for visiting Cluj-Napoca.
After the analysis of the tourist supply and demand
for Cluj-Napoca, the third part of our research
focuses on the SWOT analysis of the destination.
Strengths
- strong and well known academic centre;
- important cultural centre (medieval town);
- one of the biggest cities in Romania;
- developing business environment;
- high qualified work force for various field
supplied by Cluj-Napoca’s universities;
- good collaboration relationship with Hungary –
the main foreign investor;
- geographical position – closer from the west
border.
Weaknesses
- closed city from the infrastructure point of view;
- less international flights comparing with
Bucharest and Timisoara and even with Tg.
Mures which has the connection with Hungary
through Wizair;
- an expensive city (high cost of live comparing
with the average salary).
Opportunities
- developing of the accommodation infrastructure
for the academic and medical tourism;
- improving the tourist packages for cultural
tourism;
- offering advantages for foreign investors from
local authorities;
- various opportunities in developing bilateral
agreements with Hungarian partners;
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
411
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

- developing business environment using the
attractiveness of Cluj-Napoca as a financial
centre.
Threats
- multiple chances for young people to study
abroad after the accession of Romania to UE;
- various opportunities for young people to work
abroad;
- more pretentious, experimented tourists who are
not satisfied with the present offer.
4 Conclusions
Cluj-Napoca tourist market slowly becomes a
competitive and crowded one, but the competition is
tough from Romanian and international destinations.
To summarize all the analyses before we can
conclude that Cluj-Napoca has three major tourist
segments:
a) Segment 1
Academic tourists (students, professors, tourists
coming for professional training who are in
connection with the Cluj-Napoca’s universities and
persons who come for medical services offered by
university hospitals);
Main competitors: Bucharest, Timisoara, Iasi;
Comments: Cluj-Napoca is well known in Romania;
Purpose: to maintain and develop its second place
after Bucharest.
b) Segment 2
Business tourists (come for the developing
environment offered by Cluj-Napoca’s market);
Main competitors: Bucharest, Timisoara;
Comments: developing business centre, offering
new opportunities but can not compete with the
capital – the preferred place for making business;
hard to compete with Timisoara which was more
opened to the foreign investors after 1990 and now
is more developed comparing with Cluj-Napoca
business environment;
Purpose: to be in the first 3 options on the foreign
investors list Cluj-Napoca is well known in
Romania.
c) Segment 3
Cultural tourists (come for the medieval town,
cultural attractions, festivals, events offered by Cluj-
Napoca’s market);
Main competitors: Sibiu, Sighisoara, Brasov;
Comments: Cluj-Napoca is an interesting cultural
destination but it can not compete with the
competitors from the cultural attractions point of
view;
Purpose: to develop cultural events and festivals
(like TIFF) and to stake on the strap line: “Cluj-
Napoca – multicultural heart of Europe”.
The correlation between the demand and supply is
not very appropriate. Even if the evaluation of Cluj-
Napoca’s tourist services is good, the
accommodation offer can be developed for the main
segment – academic tourism. This segment is
ignored in the present. To avoid the competition,
cultural tourism can be seen as a supporting product
(extra product offered to add value to the core
product - the reason of buying - and help to
differentiate it from the competitors) of academic
tourism. Cluj-Napoca market is focused now on the
business tourism and the local authorities try to offer
an attractive environment for the investors. In plus,
the accommodation offer is orientated in this
direction. For now, the 3, 4 and 5* accommodation
establishments offer is complex and in the last few
years there is no change in 1 and 2* supply.
References:
[1] Atsalakis, G., Ucenic, C. I., Evolutionary
Computing and Applications in the Tourism Sector
for its Sustainable Development Case Study: Using
ANFIS for Forecasting Tourism Demand, WSEAS
Transactions on Business and Economics, Issue 1,
Volume 4, January 2007, pp.1-8.
[2] Clarke, A., The Cultural Tourism Dynamic,
Proceding The 2nd DeHann Tourism Management
Conference “Developing Cultural Tourism”,
Nottingham University Business School, 2003.
[3] Cosma, S., Tourist Destination Marketing –
Some Aspects Related to Romania, Studia
Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Seria Negotia, 2, Cluj-
Napoca, 2004, pp. 69-75.
[4] Cosma, S., Tourist destination Cluj-Napoca,
Romania, Studia Universitatis Babeş-Bolyai, Seria
Negotia, 2, Cluj-Napoca, 2006 pp. 51-74.
[5] Cosma, S., Greblă, H.A., Negruşa, A., E-
Marketing tools in promoting tourist products,
WSEAS Transactions on Business and Economics,
Issue 8, Volume 3, August 2006, pp. 563-568.
[6] Cosma, S., Negruşa, A, Pop, C., Can a Cultural
Event Revive Romanian Tourism?, Proceedings of
the 2007 Advances in Tourism Marketing
Conferences, Destination and Event Marketing:
Managing Network, 2007, Universitat de Valencia,
Spain, pp. 1-10.
[7] Hughes, H., Allen, D., Cultural tourism and tour
operators in Central and Eastern Europe, Cultural
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
412
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008

Policy, Criticism & Management, Issue 1, City
University, London, 2005.
[8] Klein, R., Public policies and cultural tourism –
EU activities, paper presented at the 1st Conference
on Cultural Tourism Economy and Values in the 21st
Century, March 29-31, 2001, Barcelona.
[9] Lazar, C., Lazar, M., The quantification of the
sustainable development at local level, WSEAS
Transactions on Business and Economics, Issue 6,
Volume 5, June 2008, pp. 310-319.
[10] Lord, G. D., The Power of Cultural Tourism,
Keynote Presentation, Wisconsin Heritage Tourism
Conference, 1999.
[11] Pop, C., Cosma, S., Cluj Hotels’ Distinctive
Features, International Conference, Small and
Medium Size Enterprises in European Economies
and all over the world, Cluj-Napoca, 2005, pp. 58-
68.
[12] Richards, G., Cultural Tourism in Europe, CAB
International, Wallingford, UK, 1996.
[13] Richards, G., Policy context of cultural tourism
in Cultural Tourism in Europe, CAB International,
Wallingford, 1996b.
[14] Stebbins, R., Cultural Tourism as Serious
Leisure, Annals of Tourism Research, 23, 1996, pp.
948-950.
[15] Tudini, F., Tourism et culture, deux facteurs de
croissance pour l’Union Europeene, speech
delivered during Picture Final Conferece,
September 21-23, 2006, Luxembourg.
[16] European Institute of Cultural Routes, Cultural
Tourism or Tourism and Culture?, 2004.
[17] ICOMOS, International Curltural Tourism
Charter, 2002, Paris.
[18] Institutul National de Cercetare-Dezvoltare in
Turism, Program de cercetare de piata privind
analiza cantitativa si calitativa a cererii turistice,
rezultatele economice si forta de munca din cadrul
unitatilor de cazare din Romania, 2005
(www.incdt.ro).
[19] World Economic Forum, Travel and Tourism
Competitiveness Report 2007 (TTCR 2007).
[20] World Travel & Tourism Council Report,
Romania: The impact of Travel&Tourism on jobs
and the economy, 2006.
[21] National Institute of Statistics (NIS),
www.insse.ro.
[22]
http://www.primariaclujnapoca.ro/proiect_planificar
e.aspx.
WSEAS TRANSACTIONS on BUSINESS and ECONOMICS
Smaranda Cosma, Adina Negrusa
ISSN: 1109-9526
413
Issue 7, Volume 5, July 2008